Contain my excitement? Never!!

Because I totally suck at acting like nothing is going on when I'm  bursting from excitement inside, I just thought I should let you all  know...

That badge you see above is posted with pride.

I sent in my journal cover tutorial (You've Got Mail!) for consideration and it was accepted and posted over at the Totally Tutorials blog!

This was a fabulous way to start Friday!!

Go show the Totally Tutorials blog some love if you have a free moment.

And of course, thank you for posting my tutorial, Dotty! :)

It's Banner Time!!

(Not to be confused with Hammertime--although that is fun too.)

My blog was pretty plain until last week. There was just

Made in My Free Time

Sneak some creativity into life!

in big letters at the top.

Well, slowly I've been adding things like a Who That? page and a Blogtastical Goodness page. Take a look around. You might just catch me in my kookiness...you never know...

Anyway, part of this was designing the banner that you see above. Or (for when I change the banner in the future) this:

Click the image to see a larger version

I couldn't decide between a ninja and my rocker mushroom for a mascot. And while I'm a sucker for all things mushroom, I'm going with the pixelated ninja for now.

Also, since I am without Photoshop, I used Microsoft Paint to design the ninja. Ah, Microsoft Paint, how do I love thee and yet not at the same time. And then put it all together in Publisher. Not a bad way to go, but not the best either.

Honestly, I am just not happy with the quality that I've got going right now. It's too soft. But it's a start because it's more than just boring old words.

The ninja lets you know that you've got to stay on your toes. You never know what could pop out to thwack you with a throwing star. Because that's just rude.

Feedback? Good, bad, and indifferent: Bring it on!!

Wreck This Weekend: Post Two

That's right folks, it's time for another installment of Wreck This Weekend!!

I'm excited to share my pages with you...although looking at the flickr groups make me feel a little inadequate, but you know what? I am having fun so even if my finished project isn't like theirs it is still totally fun and worth it.

So without further adieu, I give you Week Two of Wreck This Weekend:

July 11th

You know, the directions didn't say to draw a tree, but based on the topic of the article I thought the tree was fitting. :)

July 12th

Because my voice will always be loud and I will occasionally screw up. No one should ever be able to make me feel bad about myself--including myself.

July 13th

This task was more like soccer and soccer never was my sport. Basketball, volleyball, and softball yes. Soccer? No. Journal soccer/golf? Definitely not. 

My 6 tries were made from about 18 inches away.

July 14th

Tape seemed to be the most sensible choice in this situation...

And I braided the tear strips page which would have turned out really cool if I had colored them before tearing them (see post one).

July 15th

This one was a lot of fun. I think that switching colors of pen would have also looked cool.

July 16th

Another fun one that reminded me of elementary school. I even carved the letter "J" out of a potato. This is one of my favorite pages.

July 17th

Tongue painting left my journal page more soggy than painted. At least now I know what a journal tastes like(?).

And that's Week Two of Wreck This Weekend.

What have you been wrecking lately? Journaling? Crafting? Photographing? Spill! :)

Chore Chart Leads to Sewing Project

My kids are 2 and 4 years old.

The 4 year old wants to be a big kid who gets allowance.
The 2 year old wants to do everything the 4 year old does.
They both want to buy toys.

So we instituted chores and allowance for completing chores at my house last week. Why should we parents be stuck paying for all of their toys with nothing for us in return!?! We shouldn't, I say!

Our method for logging the chores is a dry erase chore chart. That way we can modify it however we want (like to add more chores MUAHAHAHAHA) and it's eco-friendly because it's reusable.

I hung our eco-friendly dry erase chore chart on the wall at kid height and called it good.

But it wasn't good.

The dry erase markers that I bought for this didn't come with a pouch and I had no place to put the markers near the board. So I slapped them in a sandwich bag and tacked them to the wall next to the chore chart.

It looked hideous.

We can't have hideousness all out in the open for anyone stopping by to see! No, no, not when I can sew.

So I drew up some plans:

Wow, I really need to get a better eraser...and scanner...

And went about the business of modifying my reversible pouch tutorial to make it!

As you can see, I changed the shape of the pouch and added a rivet to the top for hanging.

Here is the finished pouch:

Funny story about the rivet on this pouch...
So this was the first time I've ever put a rivet on a project.

I used the little hand riveting tools that you can buy next to the rivets and a hammer (as directed). Yeah...the directions on the packs aren't very good. Or maybe I need to work on my reading comprehension skills a bit. I don't know what, but whatever the problem was with the directions, I used the tool wrong and the rivet tool got stuck INSIDE of the rivet. And I couldn't get it out.

I had to make some delicate maneuvers involving a chisel, hammer, and flat head screw driver to get the tool off. So I'll be posting a how-to on riveting soon. Or maybe a how-not-to. I haven't decided yet.

I'm thinking in the future that this bag could be given to a certain little boy to hold his pens or treasures of some kind. All he'd need is a piece of rope strung through the rivet to close it with.

And that's how a chore chart lead me to a sewing project.

What have you been making lately?

Wreck This Weekend: Post One

As you know if you've been reading this blog lately (if not, catch up here), I purchased a copy of Wreck This Journal by Keri Smith at the beginning of July and made a commitment to do at least one page every day.

Well, I'm proud to report that after two weeks with it in my possession, I have stuck to that commitment and now I'd like to share the results with you!

But I don't want this post to just be a random, one time thing. I'm no where near finished with the book and I'd like to be able to keep sharing the pages that I create with you with some sort of regular frequency.

Also, part of the reason why I started this blog was to encourage my friends and family to get back in touch with their creative selves. What better way than to post pictures of what I've done each week from a book that has inspired me?

Motivation, my friends.

You each have your own unique perspective on the book's instructions--don't like what I did with my page? Make one yourself! And you don't go out and buy the book to do it, either. That's the fun thing about being creative. You can do whatever you want!

Let's get a little friendly competition going, too: Who can make the most colorful pages! Who's with me? Post a link to your page (blog page, photobucket/flickr account, wherever it is!)  in the comments section of this blog and we'll come take a look at it!

So with that and without further ado, I bring you a Made in My Free Time mini-series:

Wreck This Weekend

Once each weekend, I will post pictures from my Wreck This Journal entries so you can follow along with me! I encourage you to post comments and share your journals, too. Even if you don't want to compete. I would love to see your creations!

Here are mine from Week One:

 July 3rd

The first thing I do with a new book is crack the spine--blame it on the year I worked at the college bookstore. But don't worry former bookstore coworkers, I only cracked the spines on my own books. :)

 I'm thinking of coloring this page, but for now here's how it stands.

Too easy!!

 This one reminded me of making hand turkeys for Thanksgiving when I was in elementary school.

July 4th

I really wish that I had colored the strips before tearing them...

I numbered the book backwards. :)

Broke out the crayons for this page!

July 5th

 This was fun. I spit, poured, and dripped coffee onto the page to make the design.  I wish that I had used regular coffee, though. I used a latte so the coffee stains aren't very dark. 

I went out hunting for a 4-leaf clover for this page. The rest are from around my house.

July 6th

Scribbling with different colored pens is fun. :)

July 7th

My morning shower has never been so invigorating.

No one said it had to be a solid sheet of newspaper.

July 8th

I flew this airplane before taping it to the journal. It didn't fly very far. Lame.

July 9th

 This was all that was left of the "Fold this page up, put it in your pocket, and run it through the wash" page.

Another page I'd like to color some more later.

July 10th

I sprayed the page with White Shoulders perfume. Now the whole journal smells pretty.

Next weekend I'll get you caught up with this week and so on until the journal is complete.

Keep an eye out for the Wreck This Weekend mini-series next weekend!